


I Wanted To Go To Valhalla When I Was Younger

by MartinMcFly



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, Comfort, M/M, its midnight and ive probably made mistakes sorry, little dates in Copenhagen, mentions of the little mermaid ofc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-14 01:14:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2172363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MartinMcFly/pseuds/MartinMcFly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lukas, the Kingdom of Norway, is invited to Copenhagen by Mathias.<br/>Mathias, for a day, wants to pretend that they're not immortal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Wanted To Go To Valhalla When I Was Younger

**Author's Note:**

> when i read denmark's lines, i always thought there was something off about him. he sadly says he wants to relax in the countryside, and seems to get very upset when the other nordics could be lonely without wives. i drew this from that - i feel as if hes actually quiet and upset a lot. in fact, the title is something he says in canon.
> 
> also, i wanted writing practice.
> 
> i thought human names would be more suitable in this fanfic, so mathias is denmark and lukas is norway.
> 
> "But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more." - Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid.

There was nothing more magical than Copenhagen during the day.

Lukas could feel the sea air gusting into the mainland, gently blowing into his mind, his lungs, filling him with an energy that seemed to rise from the ground into the air. He felt more at ease, more calm, more in touch with how magical he believed the world truly was.

There was also the magic of the amount of people who passed through the Danish city everyday – no, it could not be compared to Oxford Street or New York, but each person had a sort of spiritual energy emitting from them, and Lukas wondered about the details of their lives.

The flag of the Kingdom of Denmark – the oldest flag in the world – fluttered proudly in front of the café, as to commemorate the arrival of Mathias and himself, and to commemorate the binding of something seemingly magical that kept the human race alive; love.

“This is my favourite café in the entire world!” Mathias grinned, standing outside of the café. The bright red of the flag contrasted against the smooth, cerulean rock of the building, and Lukas could not help thinking of Mathias and himself respectively. The outside of the café was littered with small, wooden, circular tables that held two, with miniature Danish flags in the centre of each one. Mathias sat down at one, and gestured for Lukas to do the same.

“This seems like a place for hipster dates,” Lukas muttered, as he took his place opposite the Dane. He automatically glanced at the sea, before turning back to Mathias.

“You do like the sea, don’t you?” Mathias grinned, resting his arm on the table to prop up his head and gaze at Lukas, “That’s good. It reminds me of you.”

“The sea air feels good,” Lukas commented, turning his head away to break contact with the Dane.

“Ack!” Mathias fell back limp in his chair, pretending as if Lukas’ words had actually wounded him, “That hurt! As cold as ever!”

“Shouldn’t you be used to that by now.” Lukas quipped, rising an eyebrow in disbelief at his friend. After all these years, and he still was as childish as ever.

“Yeahhhhh,” Mathias drew out his words; resting his body on the table, his arms almost touching Lukas as they spread out and placing his chin on the wood, “But it’s almost like we’re just new friends who are getting to know each other. Going on cute little dat- Okay, don’t glare! But we are like real young men, ja? I waaaant it to be like that.”

“Why?” Lukas was genuinely concerned as to why Mathias would want to pretend they hadn’t known each other for centuries, and he was about to open his mouth to complain about Mathias’ fidgeting as the Dane sat back up when –

“We just don’t really get a break, you know?”

Lukas titled his head in confusion, his pokerface breaking slightly as his confusion was painted on his face, “A what?”

“I do really love doing all the political work because I am proud of being the happiest nation on the Earth! I love being Denmark!” Mathias patted his chest with his hand, “But we don’t get to grow old. We don’t get to marry someone and have them by our sides for the rest of our lives. We don’t get to return home to kids jumping in our arms, and we don’t get to live out our old age in the countryside.”

Lukas was speechless.

It was true; Mathias had just said the truths that every personified nation kept close to their hearts.

“You,” Lukas stared into the eyes the colour of the Danish straits as he placed his hand on top of Mathias’, “You are not lonely, are you?”

“No, nej, I…” Mathias trailed off, staring at Lukas’ hand, “I’m sorry! I don’t know what came over me!”

Ah. There it is, Lukas thought. That fake cheeriness he always sports.

“Wanna see Den Lille Havfrue?” Mathias broke out into his signature smile once again.

“The Little Mermaid?”

“Hey, you know what it means!”

“Firstly, our languages are mutually intelligible, idiot. Secondly, you wouldn’t shut up about Andersen and his fairytales when we were in a union, and you didn’t shut up when Disney made bad versions of his novels.”

Mathias jumped up from the table, earning him some glances from the visitors to his heart, and pointed towards the sea, “She’s over there!”

“Coming, coming,” Lukas hesitated to stand up, using his arms to push himself up from the wooden chair.

He couldn’t look at Mathias’ face.

\----------------------------------------------------

Mathias spent the afternoon taking Lukas around the city that he knew like Lukas knew Oslo, hand in hand. After taking selfies with the statue of the mermaid, Lukas was given the full tour. Food – no Mathias, he was not pronouncing the name of that food that is so hard to pronounce people worked out German spies from it – places of interests, and the beach. It was night now, and the lights of the city dotted the path that winded its way to the beach.

Mathias did not need the lights to flawlessly navigate down the passage, as he had clearly walked the path hundreds of times before. Lukas was grateful for his hand in Mathias’, as the chill of the October sea air was something that affected even a country with land in the Arctic Circle.

Mathias led his partner down to the softness of the beach, and sat down next to Lukas on a bench that faced towards the sea.

They sat in silence for minutes, Mathias resting his head against the Norseman’s shoulder.

"This whole thing reminds me of an Alexander Rybak song."

Mathias snorted, “You’re so blunt. But that’s what I like about you.”

“Yeah?” Lukas whispered, still staring at the dark waves as they crashed on the Danish shore. He was entranced by them. They looked empty, and cold, and menacing and Lukas wondered if this is what people thought of him when they first glance into his cobalt eyes.

But then what would Mathias be? Perhaps he would be the chill of autumn, the redness of the leaves flowing through the sun, the crisp coldness in the air that wakes you up and fills you with an ethereal energy and makes you just want to experience life and love and nature.

Lukas mused that Mathias would most likely be the sun. Warm, full of energy and something that everyone wants to be around, wanting to bask in because the sun is sometimes too overbearing but makes everyone feel brighter, and happier, and the sun helps so many people live.

Mathias is someone people wanted to be around.

Lukas was not.

“It’s nice to have some honesty in this world.” Mathias shrugged against Lukas before sitting upright on the bench and resting his hands on the bench. Lukas thought that it wasn’t right, that Mathias should put his head back on his shoulder. He felt cold. “I pretty much act like everything’s okay, but it isn’t.”

Lukas didn’t respond. He did not know how to respond. He wanted to comfort Mathias with words, but his fatal flaw was that he didn’t know how. So he calmly placed his hand on top of Mathias’, without taking his eyes off the sea.

Mathias gave a small huff of amusement, and sat back and murmured, “What’s your favourite fairytale?”

“I-I don’t think I could pick one,” the question had caught Lukas by surprise and he found himself scrunching up his eyes as he tried to picture his favourite fairytales in the black expanse of the sea air, “I have many favourites.”

“Mine’s The Little Mermaid. Y’know, by Andersen?” Mathias seemed detached as he reeled his thoughts, “It’s really sad. She just wants to be happy. Nothing wrong with that, but all these things are in her way. It’s almost impossible for her to be happy. Apparently it reflects on Andersen’s own life, and it makes me wish that he could’ve been happy in his own regard too.”

“Mathias,” Lukas winded his fingers around Mathias’ – God, he was so warm! –and gripped tightly, “You don’t have to keep smiling if you do not want to. I’m sorry if you feel like that lost Mermaid, but you have friends.”

“Yeah…” Mathias whispered into the inky stretch, “Yeah.”

“If we had to compare ourselves to the nature we personify, would I be the sea and you, the sun?”

“I guess, but I don’t personify the sun…” Mathias lightly chuckled.

“Then I want you to think about the Mermaid,” the words just tumbled out of Lukas’ mouth, “She was upset in the sea, but then she went onto land and felt the sun’s rays for the first time. That made her happy, full of life, smiling, laughing. That’s what you do to people.”

“You think you upset people?” Mathias turned his head to look at Lukas’, worried.

“No. I am not good at comforting people or making them happy. You, Anko, are. You’re the sun.”

“Ah,” Mathias response was so quiet it seemed as if it became the wind.

\----------------------------------------------------

“Do I know you from someplace?” The old man asked Mathias who had just ran into him, making him drop his bags.

“No, no, I’m just a familiar face around Copenhagen!” Mathias reeled out in his native tongue, bending down to pick up the man’s bags.

“Hm… this is quite the oddity,” He gratefully took his bags from Mathias’ hands, “I felt I’ve known you for a long time...”

“Maybe we’ve lived in the same neighbourhood for some time?” The same excuse every time, but Mathias wore a grin as he said the words nonetheless.

“Ah, well you’ve got your looks and physique… young man,” he groaned as stood up fully, “This back pain! My body isn’t what it used to be.” He grumbled, turning and walking away from Mathias, “You better make use of your youth. Because it goes quickly.”

“Yeah.” Mathias felt his smile fall, as he raised a hand in a farewell, “I will.”

 


End file.
